Friday Feature: Clear Head
April 15, 2011 | Women's Lacrosse
April 15, 2011
By Scott Weighart, Special to GoTerriers.com
When senior attacker Erica Baumgartner broke the Boston University record for career assists in lacrosse this season, she wasn’t about to get a swelled head.
When it comes to swelling around the skull, three times was not the charm for the Maryland native. After a breakthrough season as a junior in 2009—when she set career highs with 18 goals and 39 assists while helping the team earn its fifth straight America East championship—she suffered a trio of concussions last year.
The saga began in October with a head-to-head collision in a one-on-one drill, where the 5’9” Baumgartner got hit in the temple. She returned to practice a few weeks later, but in her zeal to return she fudged the facts about how she was really feeling. “I wasn’t completely honest with my athletic trainer,” she admits. “I chased a ball going out of bounds and ended up running into a pole holding up the netting around the field.”
If that didn’t give her enough reason to hang her head, she stood up and hit her head hard on a metal pipe around holiday time. With the series of concussions, she ended up with a smorgasbord of symptoms that lasted a good nine months. She suffered from severe neck and back pain along with an ongoing foggy sensation and debilitating headaches. She sought refuge in dark, quiet rooms. “No matter what I did, nothing made me feel better,” she says. “Even speaking to people, I couldn’t talk without having a pounding headache. “
Ultimately, she had to take time off from school. Unlike most injured athletes, she wasn’t even able to travel with the team and watch the games. “It was difficult because I had to take myself out of being a part of the team. But in the back of mind I was always thinking that if I was lucky enough I’d be able to come back this year.”
Months went by and she wondered if she’d ever feel normal again, let alone be able to reclaim her usual spot as an X player, feeding her fellow attackers from behind the opposing goal. “There were definitely times that I doubted whether I’d ever get better again. But then I’d say, ‘You can’t think about what ifs. You have to focus on positives, like being able to finish out my career.’ And that’s what I’m doing.”
After postponing her senior year, Baumgartner is back in action at last, leading the team with 20 assists. “I got a little nervous, wondering if she’s ever going to get back to playing her best lacrosse,” head coach Liz Robertshaw says. “It was great to see her get back and be able to do that.”
On April 6, she notched her 109th assist in a 13-12 overtime loss to New Hampshire, breaking the record formerly held by the very player she was recruited to replace, Mary Beth Miller.
“It’s funny because honestly it’s not something I ever thought about,” Baumgartner says. “My dad would remind me about it, but truth be told, I’m not just saying this to be humble: I was really not thinking about it. And when people would bring it up, I was just saying ‘Stop—I just want to play my game and not have to worry about breaking records right now; I want to be worrying about our team winning this game.’ It was exciting, but now it’s done.”
Although the senior is quick to describe the record as a testament to all of those who were able to finish off her feeds, Robertshaw doesn’t hesitate to praise her playmaking abilities. “Her field vision is spectacular,” the coach says. “When she’s behind the cage, she reads her teammates really well. She knows the cutting patterns that they like to have. She can read a defense—if they’re going to drop off, if they’re going to come and pressure her. She reacts quickly. If you’re going to be a playmaker, you have to have that skill set.
“I equate her position as an X player as like being a quarterback: You’re going to have the ball on your stick, and you’ll have a maximum of three seconds to decide what to do with it. Are you going to challenge? Are you going to feed? Are you going to move it? You have to make those decisions by gut and by doing it over and over again, and you’re going to have to thread a needle. If it’s a second late or too high, it’s going to be picked off.”
The biggest question remaining will be how well this record-setting attacker will perform in her final act at Boston University. The program has won six straight America East championships, but rivals such as undefeated Albany might be thinking that they have a shot at upending the team for a change. The Terriers have been inconsistent and go into the critical Albany game tomorrow with just a 6-6 record. However, a league championship is still well within reach for the BU women.
“It’s been very up and down,” Baumgartner says. “[On Wednesday] against BC, our defense had a tremendous game. They played very well. So we want to take their energy and get it through the midfield and into the attack. In our attack, it seems that when someone’s in a lull, everyone’s in a lull. We met as an attack today and talked about how we just need to find the confidence within ourselves and that we’re playing for a program that’s won America East championships. That’s our goal for this year, and we know that we’re fully capable of it.”
To ensure that she keeps a clear head for the rest of her playing career, Baumgartner has had to accept the mixed blessing of some protection. “I have to wear a helmet,” she says with some annoyance. “That was one of the deals with my parents and the coaching staff. When I first started wearing it, I felt a little self-conscious. I actually really hate it. But there are moments when I do get conked on the head, and I think ‘Thank God I’m wearing with this now.’ With my luck, I’d be in my room with the lights out.”
Instead she’s stationed behind the net, threading passes to teammates and hoping to put together a few more lights-out performances.
